Jack & Jill Politics

Hello everyone at Jack and Jill this is Dmak from the Kala Nation warrior/bloggers.Tonight at midnight I am broadcasting my radio show live at midnight eastern time.Tonight we will talk about Tavis Smileys State of the Black Coonion conference this past weekend in Los Angeles.
The call in number is (347)326-9463
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Kala-Nation

CPL has written a new post on the Negro Superbowl....consider that the THIRD Open Thread on the State of the Black Union. We're going past 200 replies...onto a new thread :)

Um, how come Tavis' mom wasn't on the panel...?

Is he still speaking to her?

Y'all remember in some article Tavis didn't speak to his momma for two years after she punished him and banned him from after-school activities.

If he wasn't going to talk to me, his rusty butt couldn't have sat in my house, eating my food, sleeping under my roof and wearing clothes I bought to send his dumb ass to school, for two years.

Ms. Smiley a better woman than me - I'd sent Tavis to live with relatives he WAS talking to.

Thanks for that bit of reference...didn't know. Curious: what was the punishment for? Perhaps that incident and the aftermath speaks to why he is the way he is around sisters *now*?

Is anyone sticking around to watch Rush Limpballs on the CPAC convention tonight?

Try watching Rush without the sound. I took my son to a local sandwich/pizza shop, and the was too much chatter to actually here Limpballs. It was a hoot to watch though, He started jumping up and down, almost foaming at the mouth.

Maybe he needed a fix?

CNN showed him for the entire hour and a half. he said his usual stuff, that will make pundits talk about it for 4 days as if rush limbaugh has any control over anything outside of his radio booth

Towards the end, he looked like he was in a rush to get somewhere. Hmm....

probably to pick up more drugs, sleep with more foreign women and divorce another woman

I saw the last 10 minutes of it earlier on CNN. It came across as a Klan rally IMO.

y'all better than me; I can't watch Rush's fat ass without needing to take a shower afterwards.

The, ahem, man makes me feel dirty if I have to watch him on anything.

CPL, it was sickening. I know you know your enemy but listening to folks like him has me automatically frowning, and a sista has to becareful about frown lines.

I watched some of it, and I wasn't frowning. Limbaugh was saying everything Obama needed him tp say, and both he and the audience were acting exactly the way Obama needed them to act. If he wasn't percieved as the leader of the Republican party before, he will be now,

Exactly my take and I only caught two minutes while standing in line at Quizno's. President Obama has played these fools like a fiddle. Rush Limbaugh is their leader....Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck Coulter, and the lot, are running the GOP....LMAO!!!! Brillian!!

you betta believe CNN did it to make ratings. just like they always do, like when they went to some town in tx to show that none of them voted for obama. lol what the fuck?

Hell to the Nah!

Call me when they catch him high on Oxycontin with a little boy and YouTube captures it.

PLEASE tell me JJP is invited to that blogger discussion after the forum ends.......

I don't see where we got an invite, but Jill's in Cali - maybe she got the nod.

Van Jones - greenforall.org

Randall Robinson - hatin on Clinton. He sure pissed Robinson off.

RR wasn't hatin'.......he was statin' the truth about Clinton.

We had a speaker at my school a couple of weeks ago talking about how maybe we were better off with segregation because of the sense of community. I do think that's something that's missing. We are still largely connected as a community, but not as much as we used to be.

I can agree with her to some extent. As a result of integration, there's certainly been a class divide between African Americans who were able to move out of the inner city and into suburban communities, and AA's who get left behind living in the inner city.

Nah, I think AAs are moving from integration to assimilation.

That's the problem for old-time power brokers in the AA community like the church...

The new middle class and upper class AAs are free to do whatever.

that's a good point you make. And I think we don't hold the politicians nor business owners responsible....our community conscience Is lacking or devoid.

Often I think to the many other ethnic communities who essentially arrive in America and set up businesses and gain wealth from the dollars of those in the Black communities.

Yet you can go in some of this beauty supply shops, convenience and/or liquor stores and have the owners not even acknowledge you when you come in, or utter hello. And you almost never ever see them employ a black person in their business establishment. To be honest, I have changed my buying habits because of reasons like those.

Cute, (but, sadly, ironic) how Mr. Jones brings up the name of sistas in the struggle....whew.

Black churches need to stop concentrating on prosperity and get involved prophetically.

oooh you really want to piss off some folk, don't ya? Creflo, TD an 'nem ain't trying to hear you...

I'm just sayin'

Heh........preachers and pimps....preachers and pimps.

More pimps than preachers, LOL

Barack Obama's campaign created the new model for organizing and campaigning to effect change in America. The haters on this board need to STFU and put the model to good use. Speechifying and pontificating ain't gonna get it. They need to hit the streets and start working to organize the people instead of sitting on their asses yelling at them.

you aint neva lied...this is why i had to tune in this year. the first year that i went to one of these in Detroit I was excited...months and years to follow, I was disappointed.

same negroes pontificating in no particular order...and the questions are set up based on "this is what I want to talk about" stuff.

so this year I tuned in because now these folks have NO EXCUSE...you think Barack has ever been at one of these - hell no! wasn't asked...

Tavis was mad that he wasn't the King Maker in this case but now he is trying to eat.

he don't look like he's missing any meals.

The Old Civil Rights Guard: "WHAT ABOUT US????????"

You mean the Civil Rights Industrial Complex, don't you, Sepia?

'Tis true. 'Tis true.

lol

Bakewell

Dont allow people to fake us out of position with our leaders New York Post-embrace Sharpton.

Sure, there is a place for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, it's just not necessarily in these times. I respect what they did to get us to this point, but they've got to change their mentality sometimes. I just don't like people always referring to Jesse and Al like they speak for all African Americans.

I don't have a problem with Al Sharpton. More often than not, Al speaks the plain truth.

Jesse on the other hand...

Actually, having listened to Al, really listened, not the CNN or FAUX soundbites, Al makes sense most of the time. It's Jesse who is stuck in the past.

Al doesn't always speak for me, but I like the way he has kept at it, kept at it, after all these years. Yeah, he's a media whore, but in many ways, he has to be, to get the word out...

exactly. Unmuzzle Uncle Al !! He should be heard on CSPAN only!! But seriously, he earned an even greater respect from me during the latter part of the 2008 campaign, because he folded his arms and kept his mouth shut because he realized that the election was so.much.bigger.than.him. I wish others had done the same.

You all have been hilarious. Just reading this thread makes me laugh.

Tavis STILL drinking haterade to the nth degree.

Akbar

Responsibility has to work with accountability. We have to look out for us and not apologize about being concerned for us. Concern about what we need to do for us. Understand what we are going to do for ourselves. Election of Obama does not exonerate us from our responsibility for doing for ourselves.

When Dr. Guinier smiles like that each time Tavis drowns a pseudo-intelligent question in his haterade, I have to smile *with* her.

Sorry, I disagree with Dr. West about Obama abandoning black people to pander to moderate whites.

Actually, I didn't totally disagree with him. Until the end, President Obama wasn't really going to the "black" areas. But when it came time for early voting he was right back on the TJMS talking about how important it was for all of us to get out there. I don't mind that he didn't spend ALL of his time with the African Americans, but I do think he could have spent a little more time in African American communities.

With that being said, he did what he needed to do because he knew he had the African American vote locked up and it was more about getting us out to vote than getting our support.

I look at that as using common sense, good business sense, and logic, not forsaking the black community like West was suggesting.

Oh, I don't think Obama was dissing us or anything, like I said, he did what he needed to do. In a perfect world he would have had time to pander to everyone :oP

This is my issue though...so many say President Obama did not go out enough in the black community----it seems like that was the most essential part of his adult life......the man did run an enormous and successful registration drive for AAs in Chicago, his life story has been all about helping the community...that is where his political education began.....and those who choose to overlook that will never get to the heart of his narrative and his ideals....look at the legislation he helped sponsor in Illinois and tell me he didn't have the thoughts about the disparities of blacks on his mind.

That's why I never bought the narrative that Obama was not Black enough.

I'm not saying he's not black enough, I'm just saying I feel like there were points during the campaign when I felt like our vote was being taken for granted. That's not meant to downplay the work he did in Chicago, I just think he knew he had our vote locked up, so he didn't spend the time trying to court our vote, which I completely understand.

I remember last year during the SOTBU when Obama declined the invitation because he was going somewhere in Texas to campaign against Hillary, and I remember defending that decision because he had to get more than the AA vote to win.

Truthfully ANY Democrat would have had our vote locked up. Don't try to claim Obama didn't campaign "enough" in black communities because he knew he had us "locked up." How many times did you see Al Gore or John Kerry campaigning in black communities? No more or no less than Obama.

You're right, and I'd say the same thing about any of them. NO Democrat should ever just take the AA vote for granted because not all of them have our best interests at heart. And what has happened is now no one even bothers to compete for our vote because they know more often than not we are going to vote for whoever has the (D) beside their name, and sometimes the (D) isn't necessarily the best candidate.

How do we decide who will begin voting Republican? Put tens of million of names in a hat? Distribute tens of millions of straws, 50%(?) of them cut in half?

Ummm, until the Republicans start coming up with IDEAS instead of playing political games using the same tired discriminatory ideas they have now, I'm not voting Republican. I'd actually love to see a viable third party replace Republicans.

now thats not entirely true. you recall most blacks went with clinton then edwards. barack didnt get blacks until the middle of the primary when he won sc. he was always doing interviews with black press it just wasnt out there as much.

clap, clap, clap, clap.

Remember, there were plenty, PLENTY, of black folks who had the side-eye for Obama.

Who is this young boy with the funny name? Where did he Obama from? Bill is my man! So, I'm voting for Hillary. Plenty of black folk never heard of him, let alone pronoucing his name right.

And remember, the main reason he went to law school was that Chicago taught him that he needed to be IN the system in order to change it.

He needed (AND STILL NEEDS) white votes to get the job done. If every black person in America voted for him, it wouldn't matter one iota if he doesn't get the majority of whites and Latinos to vote for him.

He's playing the game the way he needs to play to win.

And HE LIKES TO WIN!!!

I'm talking about during the general election. And Obama started getting the Black vote after NH because that's when Bill started acting all crazy and it was after he won Iowa so people believed he could actually win. His numbers in SC were so large because of the white vote, not the AA vote.

By the General Election, he knew he had the Black vote locked up, especailyl since McCain had no intention of competing for it.

Muzikal203...
Why do you think McCain and Sister Sarah decided to not compete for the Black vote?

That's their interpretation because they wanted Obama to turn his presidential campaign into another episode of "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong."

I notice not one person on the panel acknowledges the parts of Obama's budget geared toward helping prisoners reintegrate into society.

And sorry. Jesse Sr. screwed himself out of a place of respect, no one "faked us out."

Co-sign. People who say or insinuate that PBO has forsaken black people, or hasn't done anything for black people, haven't taken the time to review his policies and his accomplishments. And ironically, that meme comes from people, like Tavis, who are always telling PBO supporters that we need to research politicians.

exactly...the one bill that will TRANSFORM AfAm lives is the universal health care bill.

once we have access, information and treatment...no more excuses.

or his syringe exchange program or the housing plan that helps military families

i think dr west thinks that in order for barack to speak to black people he has to speak directly to us. as if some how some of the issues he has been talking about are white or black issues. they are still thinking barack needed to be a civil rights leader to lead black people

"they are still thinking barack needed to be a civil rights leader to lead black people"

Major Co-sign

So do I. Dr. West has been talking out of both sides of his neck in regards to PBO since '07.

Should have heard Cornell at Hampton during the '07 SOBU.

He and Tavis swigging from the same jug of haterade that day.

Cornell West and Tavis Smiley: The Heckel & Jeckel of Hateration

amen to that.

Black folk had to hide out to get Obama elected, will we have to keep doing that Lani Guinier.

Provide a different form of accountability. We want to reconstitute what people are looking for when looking for talent and not in taking the test.

Cornel West

Obama had to neutralizing the white vote and new the black community would come together for him.

Never forget about people who loved us, Jeremiah Wright..

Martin never got obsessed with power that he forgot about the lest of these.

Why is West still talking sh*t, he's worse than Tavis. Tavis is a little better at hiding his animosity, I'll give him that lol.

I think Tavis got an erection after West said that.

BWA HAHAHAHAHA

Noooo...you didn't GO THERE!!!!!

ROFLMAO!!!!!

Girl, you know he did! You could hear it in voice: "YES! That's right! Let me go to the bathroom right quick ya'll....." .

*goes to take a seat in the "Naughty Corner"*

sit your fake ass down, Steele LOL

He did hop up on that line. LOL. He's trying so hard to make us feel that he's one of us. Just be YOURSELF.

Sharpton

Glad for the nations sake that Obama got the presidency when he did. Viagra wont help a dead man when the economy is dead. Sharpton wants credit for Obamas win-justly so. A consistent struggle of unlettered people who paid a price.

WEB Dubois got a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1895.

Civil right did not right your resume, civil rights made someone read your resume. We need to acknowledge that.

"Viagra won't help a dead man" --- Al Sharpton

That was a great line

"This is a government not of government but of people."

Michael Steele is a poster child for tokenism. The dude has no coherent argument whatsoever.

Most of what he said is BS. He's being controlled by Rush just like the rest of the Republican Party.

Michael Steele

Has Obama given America a new model/template on how to run and be successful?

The reality for both parties now is that you have to actually talk to people, proven by Obama.. Michael Steele is going into every community, He has a big job to do by himself.

Also, it's PRESIDENT Obama, not "Barack" you don't know him like that Michael.

It's the DEMOCRATIC party Michael, not the DEMOCRAT party.

<sigh> save your precious breath, Muzikal.

OMG HE DID IT!!!! Steele did it!!! He used the hip lingo!!!! grrrrr

You damn skippy.

The more I see of Steele, the less I like him.

Malveaux

And this is not about affirmative action...is this the new catch phrase

Affirmative action says "Open up the door, I will get it myself."
Rasie the Pel Grant to 10k so AA can afford to go to college.
Adequately fund higher education so our young people won't come out with thousands of dollars worth of debt and few opportunities

Write Obama about disparity between Crack and Cocaine laws.

Oh snap. "Shame on us if we don't read this wonderful book that lays out the road map for how we can order Barack around."

I wish I had interactive TV, because I'd put my Jimmy Choos up Tavis' fat ass for all of his comments today in trying to provoke that panel to engage in a hate fest on the POTUS, while trying to vindicate his ass.

Where's that journalist from Iraq when we need him?? lol.

LMAO!!

Karen Bass, California Speaker & Community Organizer

Is all of this at the local level going to work?

Not knowing how much further down we are going, we don't know.
Repubs in Calif won't raise revenues. Always vote for prisons and not education. (Michael Steele is a joke-has no clue-token)

Reverse dracinian drug laws to reverse mass incarceration. 56 occupations in CA you can't have if you have felon including barber.

Must continue pressure on the local level with demands on the stimulus money at the l ocal level.

He aint' that moderate...don't let that house negro fool you, Karen LOL

WOW@ Karen Bass calling out the Republicans with Steele sitting there. She's mistaken if she thinks Steele is going to be ANY different. He's not moderate, he's playing to the base like everyone else.

She probably knows that, she's just trying to "play nice".

Hm. Looks like Lani isn't getting invited back, either. She's too smart for Tavis to follow...heehee.

She actually threw punches at the Clinton administration when she referenced the "three strikes" laws.

That shyt passed on Clinton's watch and we didn't say jack about it until more of us started getting locked up.

She was on point about the admission tests like the SATs. A brother from JFK law school in California did a study on the disparities in LSAT scores and who the hell actually got into law school. Hint: POCs were disproportionately affected.

But...don't ask schools like George Mason or Georgetown to give up admission tests that allow them to legally discriminate. <<snark>>

Lani Guinier-HARVARDs One and Only

How do we make sure than not just the upper echeloon in AA gets the "hook up"?

Talent - This in not about conventional measures of merit. Merit is something we find in diverse groups of problem solvers and trumps individual ability. Goal is to find the diverse people who approach the problems perspectively.

Shifting our resources to bring up the raw talent from the bottom. Our suffering is a clue to the larger problem - incarceration and drugs. Money for education in CA is coming from the money allocated to build prisons. SAT is a wealth test and not knowlege - tells you what kind of car your parents drive.

Modern scientific racism = test, metric, empirics makes racism invisible. Something wrong with the metrics we are using and not the group we are testing.

Tavis' new meme:

Obama is elitist and only cares about the Black people who went to Harvard with him.

He is very, very disturbed. Can someone send a good woman his way or something?

Hill Harper still on CSI the last I checked

Nah, it's as much about people living in poverty as it is working class and upper class African Americans, etc.

Perhaps Tavis isn't the best messenger, but his question needed to be asked, if not only directed at Obama's Administration but to all Americans as well. Nobody on the national level is really talking directly about poverty - Edwards tried in the primaries but he couldn't deliver the message. Instead we're to assume that when elected officials talk about saving the working/middle class that poor folk are a part of that conversation.

Not exactly.

Academic conversations, Ivy League and otherwise, are one thing (albeit important), but direct action/advocacy work and enacting legislation with the devastatingly poor in mind is a whole other thing...

That said, I think that by Obama inviting Ty’Sheoma Bethea to his SOTU speech was effective. Keep the conversation going though - let's not be afraid to use words like "poverty" and "working poor" in the mainstream.

I agree with everything you've said. Unfortunately, Tavis is such a bad messenger that I didn't get this point from him at all. What I heard was more hateration from a non-Harvard grad upset that he's not a part of the "in crowd."

You assume Tavis likes women.

I'm not saying what I know; just repeating what I've seen at previous SOBUs. The sistas hang on Tavis like a cheap suit until it became painfully obvious he wasn't interested in the opposite sex.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but well.... <<<ducks>>>

If there is a sista that has had any kind of sex with Tavis....I just wish I had Larry Flynt's bank account to offer her $1million dollars to provide evidence.

ooooh, you know you ain't EVEN right..

I bet I could organize a posse of brothers with size 14 shoes in 15 minutes.

You can guess what the size 14's are for.

You mean good woman or man.

What man is going to put up with Tavis' nonsense?

LOL i was alluding to something else. We all know about Tavis--he has some shyt to work out with himself before he can criticize others.

What Tavis needs no woman can provide -- he needs to do some serious soul-searching.

Tavis has requirements of the President that he himself probably doesn't adhere to.

And the constant pushing of the book is exhausting.

HAHAHA @ Tavis hatin on black Ivy League grads while Cornell West is onstage.

Guess Princeton doesn't merit the hateration like Harvard does.

Isn't it ironic, don't you think?? LOL And I can't stand Cornel West, either. How can you call someone "bougie" when you're a professor at Princeton?? (Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just pointing out his hypocrisy) Why didn't he offer his brilliant mind to the students at Morehouse or Howard University. He and Tavis can go anytime.

Morehouse or Howard isn't giving up the ducats for their bullshyt, that's why.

LOL Exactly.

Tavis hates on Harvard brothas to Lani Guinier, a professor at Harvard.

Irony cubed.

Did Tavis just really call out Obama and Harvard grads? Please tell me that I'm wrong.

LOL

I loved what Erica Williams had to say about young people staying involved.

I thought it was funny when she stepped back from calling out Tavis for the question's assumption that the kids only voted for Obama because it was the cool thing to do.

Van Jone

Environmental Justice - Greening the Ghetto First"

The colonizer said I can put a price on anything, including YOU! The colonizers children are not saying the weather is getting funny. Understand what you AA president did in 40 days, watch his genius, absent of the words Affirmative Action.
End of the era of oil and coal, but GREEN and solar. Green Job Training: weatherizing building, reduce energy use therefore reduce global warming. Weatherize and retrofit millions of buildings. Create wind farms and wind turbines with machine parts as in cars, maybe Detroit. Give our people tools to repower America. Who are the people who most need work, so green the ghetto first where its most economically depressed. That is the new environment movement - give pooky a job.

That's my brotha, bringing the information on going Green.

Where y'all think POTUS got it? Not from Tavis...

I loved how he presented that, hopefully someone will YouTube it so we can pass that on

if you find it on Youtube, please drop the link so that I can show it.

Is this event (and Tavis as pied piper...how much in honoraria and airfare was paid) really necessary? And be annual at that? For real.

He has Wells Fargo picking up the tab.

In exchange, Wells Fargo and ExxonMobil get the free ads by looking at the backdrop on the stage with their names on it.

The short answer is: NO

Um--so TARP money (in other words, my money) and predatory oil money (who clearly bankrolled McCain and anti Stimulus congressmen) are paying for this? I had no idea. Jesus.

Actually if you look up the companies that have underwritten this event over the last 10 years...its pretty darn scary.

Start with Wal-Mart and Mickey D's - they wrote off at least five of the Annual Negro Super Bowls.

Put down Countrywide Mortgages for a couple of years.

You can tell when you try to register for the event and the internet connection directs you to answering a ton of questions about your consumer habits before it allows you to register. Then Tavis sells your information to the marketers like Exxon Mobil, Mickey D's and etc, at $2 - $10 a pop and gets fat paid.

So, Tavis can claim his event is free, but he's getting paid at the same time and doesn't have to lie about it, either.

I tried to register once for the SOBU, but after like the 5th questionnaire...I said hell naw, and probably directed myself to mediatakeout or bossip. That shit was ridiculous. I didn't know Tavis sold off the info to marketers...but then again, it SO doesn't shock me ONE LIL BIT.

Slightly off-topic, but Mrs. Van Jones is a lucky woman.

You ain't lying.

Van Jones is one phine Brotha.

Beauty, Brains and Braun = me swooning!!! LOLOL

uumm, huuumm!

no, that's actually REALLY on topic.

a-HEM, Mr. Jones, I presume...?

Vaaaaaaan! (he's actually pushing his own book, but he's tellin' truth and he looks real good doin' it.) Give Pookie a job and beat the recession AND green the economy.

Van stopped Tavis in his tracks. But Tavis recovers quickly and finds the 2 pages in his own book he mentions the word 'GREEN'. And makes it about him, again. sigh.

Tavis frames his question to Erica Williams as "how can WE help Obama" as if he won't be a good president without our input, when the question should be more along the lives with
"what can we do to work with Obama to help him achieve his vision for this country, particularly as it relates to us as a people?" I just keep hearing this arrogant perspective that Tavis and co. are the ordained geniuses responsible for bullying Barack into doing their bidding.

Just my opinion.

Dayum, is Dr. Phil available to take Tavis on as a patient?

"You can buy this book that will help make Obama a great president." WTF Infinity

Erica Williams

The Engagement Dividend of Young People in the Obama Campaign - Do You Understand the You Have to Continue the Youth Engagement

Youth voted based on issues, not tshirt or songs or facebook.

Out of the mouths of babes.

She wasn't drinking the haterade, either.

Tavis needs to put the pitcher of haterade down...and back away from the mic very slowly.

indeed.

Kunjufu

There are Governors who determine prison growth based on 4th grade reading scores. Since Brown v. Topeka there has been a 66% decline in AA teachers. White girls placed in Special Ed the least and AA males placed in Special Ed the most. We need to raise the level of expectation within our teachers, single sex classrooms, funds for summer programs.

You don't compare immigrants to slaves.

Dr. Kunjufu (sp) is PREACHING about education. "You don't improve reading scores with Ritalin."

I can't even measure my respect for Dr. Kunjufu....don't know how to count that high.

I like how he brought home the point that we can't look to the President to do the things for which we ourselves are primarily responsible as parents.

Right. Tavis only wants to talk about the community being responsible for holding elected officials accountable. But he never talks about the other ways in which we should be holding ourselves responsible, like in terms of how we raise our children (or if we raise our children at all lol). He should be emphasizing that this is a team effort, that everyone has a role to play in improving our community, not just Obama. Tavis's philosophy is "it's going to be us. vs. Obama".

kunjufu is telling it like it is. lord knows he is

I can't believe Tavis' question. I guess I just can't believe his audacity "What is it, beside Barack Obama's brilliance...that will get us to know what we need to know?" Srsly?

But Robinson is handling him with grace. He is defining democracy beautifully. He ended with the point that we can not go around toppling democracies with which we do not agree.

Tavis needs psychological help to manage this obsession with punishing Obama (which should be the title of his new book).

Also Randall Robinson's integrity has made the panel worthwhile to me.

LMAO at "Managing this Obsession with Punishing Obama"...coming to a Barnes and Nobles near you in 2010.

Randall Robinson

Obama became President of the Harvard Law Review because he was brilliant. We have brilliant President. We can't know what we don't know.

We want the world to live by one yard stick while we live by another. It took 40 years to accept the conveniton against genocide. Critical oversight was not practiced under Clinton. Bush sent forces into Haiti to kidnap the President Aristide and his wife--we owe Haiti who ignited the emancipation process since 1804. Not started by Lincoln and Haiti has been punished for it ever since.

We have to know who is for us and who has been against us. Our UN behavior has been a disgrace. Of the 40 UN Conventions, the US is only a party to six.

Robinson quotes Beyonce, "Obama makes her want to be smarter." Important that we all have that same emotion to change the world between our ears. The importance of rigourous scholarship. To know all that is to be known so we want be easily manipulated.

We are going to disagree with Obama but we need to do it in context.

How do we get to know, what they don't want us to know? Robinson's purview of Obama's books. In 40 days, Obama has done wonders and we should give him a grace period.

We cant go around the world overthrowing democracies we dont like

BREAKING NEWS

Kathleen Sebilus accepts HHS Post

I am a bit disappointed. Had hoped she would stay through turn in the economy or until Brownback or robert's Senate seat came up for election.

Can I say HALELLUJAH!

That's 3 excellent choices for me, along with Holder and Solis.

"We allowed President Clinton to buy our favor with his knowledge of a saxophone and his appreciation of gospel music" Randall Robinson...He is breaking down the US record of human rights on the world stage. Tavis will not be able to cut him off, as hard as he tries.

I wanted to stand up and clap here in my house when he said that.

and he was REALLY trying to shut Randall up.

OMG!

Is Randall Robinson putting Tavis on Blast!

He's tying all this shyt back to the Clinton Administration before the Bush Cartel, and we all know how loud Tavis shilled for the Clintons.

Can you say "Boo-YAH!"

Wasn't Randall Robinson literally FORCED to pretty much leave this AmeriKKKa when he was screaming truth? He can say whatever the hell he wants too. He has more than earned the right too.

I read his book "Quitting America" and fully understood why he bounced to the Carribean, and out of the states.

He speaks truth to power and the establishment can't hang.

As far as I know, Mr. Robinson is married to a Kittitian. He as been living outside the country, for a reason. But it is beautiful to have him on the panel, to bring a balanced, intelligent, <non-screaming> outside view.

I've missed his much needed voice these past 8 years.

Randall Robinson refuses to let Tavis have his Clinton love. I love it!

His line about Clinton buying us with a saxophone and knowledge of gospel music made my day.

I'll bet Tavis doesn't invite Robinson back.

we NEED Randall Robinson to balance this panel.

yeah, we do, but Tavis will start hating on him and anyone else on that panel that's not hating on the POTUS.

Randall is bringing the TRUTH about the global illiteracy of Americans. We have become a major obstruction to human rights in this world.

He is raising the literacy right.now.

Cornel West

POST RACIAL AMERICA??

"Justice is what love looks like in public". When you really love black people who are wounded and scared and bruised, you will be too. Need to get clarity on what is going on. AGe of Reagan is backdrop for the Age of Obama, 1980-2009, there was a glorification of greed. Justification for the indifference to poor people during this time and the "southern strategy of the Republican party did not work." Can't demonize blacks, gays, etc and it did not work, the southern strategy. The age of Obama begins with multiple catastrophes. If Iraq had artichokes rather than oil we would not have been there. Depression is not new to the black community. Wall Street=Greed Run Amuck. "WE would rather win at the moment with truth and integrity than be thugs against us.""If we gon dance with some folks we oughta do it with some SWING."

Cornel West: Southern strategy no longer in effect. Really?!?!

I swear, Cornell sounds like he's high....all that rambling, but not forgetting to give Tavis his props.

true. not one of his finer moments.

Danny Bakewell

How is the black media gonna dance with President Obama NOW?

Media has been part of the journey from the very beginning by communicating with our people that we were more than capable of being POTUS. The black woman is the cream of the planet earth. When you dont see the AA media taking issue with Obama, we need America to embrace him. POTUS has to be held accountable to the agenda that is important to us. The inequity in America today; that the stimulus is going to stimulate US. AA media raise those issues important to us. Cant lose sight of the agenda in communities across this country.

Tavis just proved that he isn't listening and did not listen to what Dr. Akbar just said. Dr. Akbar voiced a very critical point that I myself have been lambasted about...the President is the natural embodiment of what black consciousness is just now reawakening to.

We do come from a history of black men and women who headed empires, and ruled nations, and we had to be miseducated to continue to be oppressed.

We HAVE been here before, and people have been trained to forget this.

Tavis wasn't listening because Dr. Akbar wasn't hating on the POTUS.

Is this entire panel going to be about Tavis vindicating his own hateration? If that's the case, I really should turn the t.v. right now. Maybe I can catch "T.I.: Road to Redemption."

No, Parker, it is also a means to hawk his book.

Oh, that's right. How could I forget that Tavis has an even higher purpose?

Tavis can cram that book.

Na'im Akbar
How we gon dance together -- us and HiM (Obama) for the next 4 years?
We were capable of doing this long before Obama came along. There are thinking people of African decent who can do what they are capable of doing.

Dubois and the double consciousness of being Africans in the United States. Our history is a unique contribution and consciousness of what America is all about. We come out of impossible circumstances - created by people who refused to be destroyed. We are the ones who are vanguards on this planet. We cannot do the dance as long as we think we are dancing to someone else's music.

How does the Black Media do the dance with Obama?

It's a credible question as long as Tavis isn't the one asking it.

TRANSLATION FROM TAVIS TO ENGLISH:

When will black folks stop kissing Obama's ass and start criticizing him for not kissing mine?

I think that will be Tavis's next book.

No, I think another poster got the title of Tavis' next book right:

PUNISHING OBAMA.

Game over...

LMAO

LOL!

ROFL.

I got that fat contract to represent you if you want it.

Thank you Town. you wrote EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Perfect translation. Tavis is definitely trying to vindicate himself in this segment.

Trying...and failing.

That panel knows what Tavis is trying to do...and they're not co-signing.

well they better enjoy their free trip this time, sounds like they ain't getting a second ticket. LOL

I am not watching it because I have just never been into Tavis, even if at times he might mean well. If he helps some folks that is great.

Wait a minute. Is Akbar trying to credit SOBU with making Obama's election possible?

What does the Roland Burris shyt have to do with the Negro Super bowl?

As much as I respect Dr. Akbar, he needs to proceed with caution in answering this question.

I swear, Tavis wants fellow haters on his forum and he's not getting them. Punk Ass

it seems as such.

Sharpton
America deregulation business lead America to reach for things they never had. "America made an Obama decision after being amBUSHed for 8 years."
When Repubs went with the end of slavery we were Repubs. When Dems signed voting rights acts we supported them. We support who supports us."

Only 53% of AA graduating from schools. What Repubs have not dealt with policy that is just. Not enough to deal with the media cartel that the right wing gave Murdoch.

Reason Sharpton is here is because the agenda for civil and human rights is to get EQUALITY for all of us. NOT. Freedom to be POTUS or Chair of the Repub partt us not freedom on the ground. Speak truth to power about the even playing field for all races.

When Rev. Al said that America had been amBUSHED, I LMAO.

why is cnn airing rush limbaugh?

He's coming on after the SOBU on C-SPAN.

Go figure.

We support who SUPPORTS US!

Tell it, Sharpton!

YOU HEAR THAT, MICHAEL STEELE??? TELL 'EM, REV. AL!

I have been waiting ALL DAY for Uncle Al, and my wait has not been in vain...

Sharpton slingin it.

Eight years of shyt - LET'S BE CLEAR....

Emily Townes-Yale Divinity
Talk about Obama being God ordained is scary...he is not sacred and human. No one person can fulfill the kinds of challenges he is facing by himself.

I agree.

And she saw Tavis trying to hate on Obama...AGAIN

I turned the TV off just now when Tavis asked Na'im Akbar how will black people learn to do the dance of loving Obama but at the same time holding him accountable, and then pointing to the Roland Burris appointment situation as an example of black people learning to hold Obama accountable.

All while there's a big background of Tavis' new book cover with Obama rearing his head over the participants on the stage.

Stop.Making.Sense.

The book I read says no compassion cause its life during wartime.

Damn Tavis for that last question about POTUS = God Almighty!

Notice how he cut Malveaux off because she was laying down the truth?!

Punk sommabitch (Bernie Mac Impression)

CPL channels Bernie Mac - BWA HA HA HA HA HA

Cause that's what Bernie would have said. LOL

Julianne The One and Only!
How do we get to this point in the economy-GREED. Delusion, more delusion to the hype of the housing market. 14% unemployment for AA men;20% unemployment for all of AA. No food stamp money but billions for B of A. Ignored poverty when Katrina came was an inkling and has not gone away. Top 1% had 22% of the nations income in 2005. Not enough in the stimulus package. To Steele: "You gotta get cho people in line".

Michael Steele is a LIAR!!!! He's up there acting outraged at racism when he himself has taken part in racism (calling Gov. Jindal "slumdog millionare") HE IS A FUCKING LIAR!!!!!!

LOL! Jindal is slumdog millionaire

I have a problem with calling Jindal a "slumdog millionaire" or any Indian for that matter especially when if Tom Delay or somebody called Michael Steele a nigga from the hood we'd all be up in arms.

True Dat.

Steele trying to act all "hood" and shyt - he just needs to STFU

Up first, Michael Steele
Two black men at the Pinnacle of Political Power. But he is a token and aint got no power. "Here to bring his party to the community." ( Whose community? Not the AA community). Yeah what next for the Repubs? On challenging Obama: opportunity as black men in key positions. Outreach on things in common. It's going to be a dance my ass...nobody will ask to dance with him or the Repubs. The monkey cartoon is not a party partisan issue so stop wasting time

I'm glad I missed Steele, but how was he received?

They threw Oreos at him LOL, just kidding ;)

First of all Steele does not know history, or is attempting to rewrite it....the first black elected statewide at his level....ummm, does Doug Wilder ring a bell?

You forgot about that Senator from Massachusetts.

After I read your response again, I remembered about Edward Brooke. Thanks for reminding me....gotta brush on on my own political facts.

deleted

He's rewriting history and leaving information like Doug Wilder out of it because it interferes with his lies.

Michael Steele hasn't bathed in four days now. He still has the ashes on his forehead from Ash Wednesday.

Maybe he just hasn't washed his face. LOL

Otherwise, everyone on stage would be holding their noses.

something tells me this afternoon session will be FIYAH. no one realizes that all the speakers' mikes are live, even though TS is just introducing the panel...

OT:

Rikryah, did you see this Newsweek story? It calls out MOW and WAOD without mentioning the blogs on HuffPo "getting clobbered" on calling Sasha Obama "Sassy" without naming the sites on their story, "No Apologizes."

Don't know why they didn't just name the blogs if they're all unapologetic and shizz.

didn't see it, Black Snob. Thanks for pointing it out.

Anytime! Gotta watch each others backs (especially when we're getting misrepresented anonymously in mainstream press stories).

Once again. Why did they have to be a punk about it? Why not just call out WOAD and MOW? They couldn't shoot an email. Ask Gina a question? PUNKS!

Uh oh. He gonna try to talk to the bloggers. Will JJP be in on it?

I think Mike Steele trying to get himself fired from that RNC gig. He's telling all their business at the SOBU

I swear the earlier session seemed like an Uncle Ruckus moment "Don't trust them New N***** Ovah dere"

Tavis Smiley wasnt supportive of Obama but he doesnt mind making money off of him with the book and tour.

I see Sheila E!

Panel 2 - The Real Hellyuns

Rev. Eric Micheal Dyson is deep: What are WE going to do with WHO he is?

I really am curious to see what kind of stupid crap MikeHo Steele comes up with. I'm betting h wears the salmon tie again, too.

Afternoon session is now on...

Labor Unions and Bailouts, code words for Arabs, gays, Jews, immigrants and black folks.

Bailouts too?

Before they rescued Wall Street "bailout" meant "welfare." Still does, but not to the GOP when its referring to helping their rich banker buddies.

An evening of celebration with President and Mrs. Obama at the White House in honor of musician Stevie Wonder's receipt of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song takes place February 25, 2009.

http://www.pbs.org/inperformanceatthewhitehouse/

Hmmmmm, why is CKRAC still on?

Tavis said the second session would began at 4:30.

OK. As for the bizarre: some Arab named Mohammad just announced that the enemy of conservatives isn't Arabs, gays, Jews or immigrants.....its labor unions and bailouts. Whaaaaaaaaaat?

Just completely lying their asses off about unions. The Arab guy actually closed with "Gingrich/Palin 2012." That and the black female moderator is making this really bizarre to watch.

I'm inclined to believe that there are those who will get their hustle on by nook or by crook and they will bend over as long as they get paid...this guy sounds like one of those people.